What's a better investment? Buying an ASIC-based mining rig, or buying bitcoin itself?

What's a better investment? Buying an ASIC-based mining rig, or buying bitcoin itself?: Seems like some miners a...

Investing in expensive mining equipment hedges a bet that the return on investment, in the form of Bitcoin, will eventually pay off the initial investment and continue paying a return for some time before becoming obsolete (like CPU mining has and GPU mining shortly will) or breaking down. It may be possible operate this as a business, writing off expenses while selling generated Bitcoin for a profit. This is all based on an assumption that this mining system may eventually be profitable. It's safe to assume that it will be once running, but, like any dividend play, it's a long term investment. Unlike dividend plays, the return will likely only decrease over time. By buying Bitcoin itself, one participates in the economy. While Bitcoin supporters would hope that one would not hold on to Bitcoin as an investment, but rather spend it in order to further the economy, it is po...

Full article: http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/6012/whats-a-b...